


A Dream (is a Wish Your Heart Makes)

by AceQueenKing



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5993323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn follows Rey, even in his dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dream (is a Wish Your Heart Makes)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [buhnebeest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/buhnebeest/gifts).



Of all the places Finn goes in his dreams, the lakeside is his favorite.

It's nice. Calm. He's standing in a villa that overlooks a meadow on one side and a beach on the other, with water as far as his eyes can see. It's the type of place he'd never get to go in the First Order, at least not without seeing it ruined with lasers scratching every vista and mar.

He's so glad he left; he doesn't think he could bear to see such a beautiful place destroyed.  
  
“Finn?”  
  
Or, he thinks, such beautiful company. She's devastating today: her long brown hair cascading in waves down her back, her outfit a loose blue dress with the more practical Jakku leggings tucked underneath. She's so radiant, so gorgeous, and he doesn't doubt for one second that she can kick his ass, even without the lightsaber clipped to her belt. 

Her face breaks into a wide grin when he turns to look at her, one so infectious he's grinning like a maniac in seconds too.  
  
It isn't just the scenery that makes the Lakeside his favorite.

“Rey,” he breathes, and he feels so lucky, _so lucky,_ to have met her. She laughs, triumphant, and grabs his hand. His heart beats faster as his hand closes around her own. _Another_ reason to be thankful he's here: there are no troopers with guns, no psychos with lightsabers.

Just one of his favorite people in one of his favorite spaces.

She grins and pulls him along and Finn, compliant to be led, follows, watching the way her hips move as she walks. She doesn't walk like Captain Phasma; her hips sway from side to side like someone who's never spent most of her waking hours in thirty pounds of armor. But she still walks with purpose and strength, and Finn has never loved anyone more.

“Where are we going?”

“I want to show you something,” Rey says, biting her lip a bit on 'something'. It's cute, _she's_ cute, and Finn never, ever wants to wake up because a part of him still remembers that she's not going to be there when he does.

“What is it?”  
  
“A surprise.” She says, and he just smiles. He follows her to a balcony, and smiles as she glance toward him and gestures out toward the beach: the water crests out into the sea, rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern that immediately, somehow, sets him at ease.

“It's beautiful,” he says, and he thinks about adding _like you_ but doesn't, because he's not sure if she really _feels_ the same way. They haven't known each other very long, or at least not long enough, and all he can do is feel the way his heart beats and know that he could never stand to be rejected. So, instead, he compliments the one thing here that reminds him most of Rey because it's all he can think of. “The sand here is so...sparkling,” he says, then turns away, because of all the lines he could have chosen, that's certainly the worst. He wishes he was more like Poe; Poe's good with women -- probably would have talked engines with Rey, would have been able to ask her out as easily as Poe could ask for...a caliper, or something. 

But despite the jacket, Finn isn't Poe.The First Order taught him how to shoot. It didn't teach him how to speak, especially to someone like Rey.

“I never liked sand,” Rey says softly. “It's rough and course and when you're in the desert, it just gets everywhere.” She winces and withdraws her hand. _Shit._

They sit in silence for a few minutes, watching the water as Finn desperately racks his brain for any sort of conversation topic that he can bring up. He doesn't want her to leave. The dreams are so much worse when she's _not_ here.

Rey laughs.

“Uh, what's so funny?” He says, and hopes it isn't him.

Rey grins at him, radiant. “Just...a feeling? Someone said that here before. A long time ago.”  
  
“How do you know that?” It has to be the Force, right? Finn's never had much exposure to the force – but he knows it's not something to be trifled with. Finn _believes_ in the force, he has to: Kylo Ren could stop a blaster bold in mid-air, and Rey, well... _Rey_ stood up to that maniac _. Rey_ saved his life. He never thought that one person could be enough to fight an Empire, but Rey is special.

“The force, I think,” she says, tapping her fingers against his own. “It's not very strong. Just...a feeling? I'm getting better at it.” He notices her eyes, how they glisten a bit as she leans in a little closer. “Maybe I'll be better at it when I see you again.”  
  
“Wow,” he says, a bit awed by the idea that the force is even something she can learn. He wonders if Rey will still be this Rey: kind, relaxed, _still_ _his friend_ – when he sees her again. He's seen trained force sensitives and cannot help but wonder if Rey will become like Kylo Ren – aloof, _angry_ , powerful. He hopes not. “What uh- what can you see?”  
  
“Not images so much as feelings, just...” She shakes her head, smiles. “Another conversation about sand. Someone blurted that out and thought they'd ruined their chances with someone they cared about, but… They fell in love.” Her grin grows wider. “Yes, here, this spot. There's such a happiness here, Finn. Do you feel it?”

“Yeah.” He says. “Sounds like a good love story.” He wants to ask if she wants to make history repeat itself, but holds back, too scared of alienating her. Instead, he hesitantly reaches his arm out to curve across her shoulder, then stops, midway,and  pauses. Is this too much? He _can't_ lose her, he can't. “You think they wound up happy?”

"I hope so," Rey says, grabbing his hand and yanking it across her shoulders. He swallows and tries, in vain, to keep his breathing steady by looking at the ocean. The tide comes in: be inhales. The ride goes out: he exhales.

“Finn?” She whispers.

“Yeah?” He sounds hoarse and winces, but suppressing his feelings shows in the strain on his voice.

“Wake up.”

“No,” he whispers, but it's too late. The dreams don't care what he wants, and the ground shifts, and Rey disappears in a burning beam of red light.

Finn keeps staring into it, even as the dreams change, the stormtrooper armor solidifies around him, and Kylo Ren barks orders to and fro.  


* * *

Finn doesn't like the dreams with the Order, and focuses his mind on the lake. On _Rey_.

* * *

He breathes a sigh of relief as he tastes salt water. The lakeside, again.

Rey is standing on the edge of the sand, her toes just inches from crossing into the water. Shes' humming a strange melody, the kind that feels like he knows it even if he doesn't, can't: the First Order does not believe in children's nursery rhymes.  
  
“ _Sing a song of water_ ,” Rey sings, “ _And the rest will follow in the valley of the star_ _s.”_  
  
“Rey!” He calls out, and she turns, startled. He crosses the space between them in seconds, but he isn't sure what to do when he gets there. He reaches out his hands and Rey takes them, her hands so small but _strong_ in his own. She grips them for a moment, then throws her arms around his neck.

“You came back,” she whispers, her arms on his neck, her body pressed firm against his own. He can hear her heartbeat pressed up against his chest, much faster than the waves, and he curls his arms against her waist.

He leans inward, and she does the same, and before he knows it they are nose to nose. She smiles. He wonders if it would be appropriate to kiss her – he wants to, he does, wants it like he wants air, or water, or places like this Villa to _exist_ – and Rey smiles, leaning her head upwards.

“I couldn't control it. Sometimes it just...moves...” He falters. He's not good at explanations, not like Poe or Rey. “I'm afraid.” He admits in a hushed whisper so quiet he's afraid only he has heard it.

“I know.” She strokes his cheek reassuringly. “I am too. But Finn… sometimes, things are worth fighting for.”  
  
He presses even closer. “Even this?” He whispers, feeling her breath hit his skin.

“Yes,”she says simply, her eyes flicking toward his own.

He closes his eyes and presses closer. He kisses her, hard, and Rey presses back, the fingers around his neck holding tight. Finn curls a hand in her hair, needing to feel the hair under his fingers, the ghost of her breath on his own. He deepens the kiss and she responds, both needy to feel and touch and he was so nervous about it but it feels, so much, like just _breathing_.

They pull apart for air, both breathing heavy, and Finn knows he never wants to leave.

“I don't want to leave.” He blurts out. “I can't control it.”

“You do.” She pulls back, her hand resting on his cheek. “You have to wake up, Finn.”

“But you won't be there if I do that.” He feels his eyes well up but he refuses the call to cry, keeps his eyes open and looks away to the water. “Can't we just stay here?”  
  
“No.” She moved away, into the water, her feet making soft splashes as she walked toward the waterfall “You have to wake up, Finn.”  
  
“I can't,” he says, moving his feet into the water.  “Can't we just stay here? Enjoy a nice swim?”  
  
She walks ahead.

“Rey!” He runs after her, the water up to his ankles. It feels strange, hard to hear with the roar of the waterfall in his ears. “Hey, wait up! I can't – I can't do this alone.”

He's not the kind to fight alone. He needs to believe in something to fight, needs to believe in  _Rey._  
  
She turns, stares at him for a long second before continuing onwards. “I have faith we'll meet again, friend. Remember that.”

“Rey!” He sobs softly as he walks into the water. Rey keeps going, the water covering her: her hips, her, back. He follows, because he can't imagine _not_  following her. 

The roar in his ears silences almost every other thought, but he focuses on Rey. 

“Please,” he whispers softly, the water lapping at his chest. It's hard to walk but he can't imagine being in the lakehouse alone. “Please stay.”

“Wake up, Finn.” She whispers. “You have to wake up.”  
  
She vanishes into the water but he follows her regardless. He follows as the water flows over his neck, then his mouth. He blinks through tears and plunges through the water as he finally goes through the waterfall, and then everything turns white.

\- - -

He awakens to beeping machines, his breath stale and beyond disgusting. He licks his lips, dry and chapped. His eyes are blurry, and he stands up, woozy and weak. He rubs his eyes.

He's in ...a med bay? He thinks it's a med bay. He hopes it's a resistance med bay.

“I'll be damned,” someone says. A female voice but not Rey: too raspy, too hard, the sound of someone who'd lived a long and sometimes disappointing life. “Kid woke up.”  
  
“General,” he rasped, remembering instantly who it was. Resistance, good.He salutes and his arms feel heavy from the effort. “Rey. I...I have to get to Rey. Now.”

 _I'm coming, Rey. I'm coming_.


End file.
